Nordstrom is officially a discount retailer

Nordstrom's off-price Rack is thriving. But its full-line stores still may have a way to go.

In its second quarters, total comparable sales fell 1.2%, beating expectations and sendingthe stock soaring. But it's important to look at the breakdown: comparable sales for its full-line business dropped 2.3%, but its off-price Rack store saw comparable sales in crease by 5.3%. The company said the full-line stores decrease in sales was largely because of the shift in timing of its Anniversary Sale.

​​​​In other words: the most successful part of its brand is its off-price brand, not the part of its brand that holds its premiere positioning.

Nordstrom Rack stores have been proliferating widely. In fact, they currently outnumber that of the company's full line stores. There are 118 full-line stores in the United States and 3 in Canada — and there are 200 Rack stores already. Nordstrom also plans to have 300 Rack stores by 2020.

Macy's Inc. signage is displayed at a department store in New York, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 22, 2016. Macy's Inc., the largest U.S. department-store company, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2015 earnings before the opening of U.S. financial markets on February 23. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

UNITED STATES - JUNE 09: Customers enter the Dillards department store at Parkdale Mall, in Beaumont, Texas, Wednesday morning, June 9, 2004. A judge declared a mistrial in a lawsuit brought against Dillard's Inc. by 17 black shoppers in Texas who claimed that security guards at the department store chain harassed them because of their race. (Photo by Scott Eslinger/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

MIAMI, FL - APRIL 19: A Nordstrom sign is seen outside a store on April 19, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Nordstrom on Monday said in a cost-cutting measure they are expecting to lay off 350 to 400 people. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The sign outside the Kmart store is seen in Broomfield, Colorado November 19, 2009. Sears Holdings Corp posted a narrower-than-expected quarterly loss November 19, 2009, helped by the first increase in same-store sales at its Kmart unit in four years. REUTERS/Rick Wilking (UNITED STATES BUSINESS)

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However, as of last quarter, sales for Nordstrom's full-line store comprised 72% of the business, which represented the greater majority of sales — though that number was less than it used to have been.

The company acknowledged that Rack has been "more consistent" than its full-line sister.

"We don't look at it as the Rack's doing something that the full-line store's missing, that those are different businesses. There's some similarities. But we're making terrific progress within the full-line stores. And that trend improved greatly in that second quarter. So the Rack's had a more consistent business the last couple of years than the full-line stores, but we've got a team on the full-price business, the Nordstrom brand," co-president Blake Nordstrom said on a recent earnings call with analysts.

It's not the only department store to be zeroing in on the off-price business.

Fortunately, for Nordstrom, its off-price stores are viewed in a much better light than Macy's are.

"As we have noted before, this spin off is one of the more successful off-price ventures from department stores and it is helping Nordstrom to both clear inventory and expand its reach to customers that many not traditionally venture into its mainstream stores," Carter Harrison, an analyst at consulting firm Conlumino, wrote in a note to clients.

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​​Still, it sends a message about a worrying consumer trend: they are increasingly frugal and they do not want to pay full price if they do not have to.

As more and more retailers resort to promotions to clear inventory and to bring in consumers as sales fall, consumers become conditioned to not paying a premium. Fast fashion hasn't helped anyone's cause, as it gives consumers the opportunity to pay less for stylish, runway-esque apparel.

Nordstrom is confident that it, unlike other retailers, will be the department store that vendors will be confident about. It appears that it wants to be the retailer that gets consumers to pay full price

"What we're trying to do is put ourselves in a real favorable position with vendors to be the retailer of choice for them, and what that means for most of the vendors we deal with is our desire, strong desire, to sell at full-price," co-president Peter Nordstrom said on an earnings call.